Ministers support delay in evacuation of some Migron homes

A ministerial committee decided Tuesday to support petitioning the High Court of Justice to delay the evacuation of some homes at the Migron outpost in the West Bank. Migron is under court order to be evacuated by August 1.

The state has been grappling for the past several months with how to carry out the High Court’s order to evacuate the outpost, which was found to be built on private Palestinian land. Two weeks ago residents of the outpost petitioned the court to delay the evacuation, arguing that they had purchased roughly half the land the outpost sit on from its Palestinian owner. The police launched an investigation into the deal following a complaint filed by the landowner.

The Ministerial Committee on Settlement Affairs’ decision will now go to the state’s attorney, who does not support a delay, Ynet news reported.

On July 22, the court will decide on whether to accept the state’s position that 17 of the outposts homes were built on land purchased by the Mateh Binyamin regional council from private Palestinian landowners, and can thus stay with their Israeli inhabitants, Haaretz reported.

Interior Minister Eli Yishai said Tuesday the evacuation must not be carried out, Army radio reported.

Most of the ministers present reportedly demanded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delay the evacuation.

Residents of the 300-person strong outpost say at least some of their homes rest on land secretly purchased from Palestinians, who face the death penalty if they are caught selling to Jews.